The Midnight Inquisition
by Impossible Places
Summary: Tintin becomes intrigued by a small-time London reporter's unusual opened ended article. When he meets the writer, a young woman close in age to him named Audrey Tabard, the two decide to team up to solve the mystery of the ringing phone in a sea of abandoned telephone booths outside the city. Who, or what is making them ring...and why? Traces of Tintin/OC. Based slightly on an rp.


_The dead of night. A cool wind blows and there isn't a star in the pitch black sky. Suddenly, a telephone rings. The sound of a London pay phone. The young woman takes in a sharp breath and looks around. Where could the sound have possibly come from? She is surrounded by hundreds of the exact same red telephone boxes, only they aren't freshly painted and this isn't the middle of London. They're old, the paint has been chipping for some time now and many's glass panels are shattered. The ones that still have glass are covered in dirt. All of the boxes are filthy with neglect. The girl slowly walks up to one of the telephone boxes and answers the phone. She shouldn't have come alone and she knows it, but she's used to being alone. Alone helps her think. Alone helps her work. Alone keeps her safe...usually. "Hello?" she whispers into the receiver, but there's no response. She hangs the phone back up and narrows her eyes, looking around. Deciding that it'd be hopeless to try every phone, she concludes that it's time for her to return home, but which way did she come from? A panic arises and her heart begins to beat faster. "Great job Audrey." she whispers to herself. "Simply fantastic."_

One week later...

"You know Snowy, I have a half a mind to check this out myself." he mused, leaning back in his chair and straightening the paper as he read. "Quite peculiar, really. Who would keep so many old telephone boxes out in the middle of nowhere and why? What's keeping them from just demolishing them?" he asked himself, narrowing his eyes as he read the author of the article's name. "Audrey Tabard...Audrey Tabard..." he mumbled to himself, trying to recall the name in his brain. "Hmm!" He'd never heard of her. In fact, barely anyone had heard of Audrey Tabard and there was a reason. Tintin folded the newspaper and got up sitting it on his desk and heading for the closet to get his coat. "There might be a story here Snowy. On deeper than what Ms. Tabard has written." he explained, looking down at the white fox terrier at his heels that was wagging his tail in agreement. Tintin grabbed his tan trench coat and quickly put it on, closing the closet door before going back to grab the newspaper. He'd show it to the people at The London Times office and ask if the journalist who wrote the article was in or not. Tintin had been staying in London for a while recently. He'd told himself he needed a bit of a scenery change and Le Petit Vingtiéme, his newspaper, had suggested that he write some articles for the paper during his stay.

Meanwhile, Audrey Tabard sat at her desk in The London Times office and rubbed her eyes. She'd been up all last night trying to get things squared away at an article, but it wasn't going as planned."Audrey, are you still not done with that article?" Came her editor's voice.

"No...just give me one more week Ben. Please? I promise I'll have something ready for print."

"It's been almost a month since I gave you the assignment!"

"I know, I know. He's just not talking."

"Maybe if you stop flirting with him you'll get some information."

Audrey's mouth dropped open and she looked up at him smirking in the doorway of the office. She grabbed an eraser off her desk and flung it at him, hitting him in the shoulder.

"Ouch!" he frowned before laughing.

"Get out." Audrey said firmly, pointing at him, a look of both irritation and amusement on her face. Ben put his hands up in surrender and left the office, closing the door behind him. The young woman let out a long sigh and let her head fall to her desk. Ben and Audrey had a bit of a history, but that's another story. It wasn't a full minute before there was a knock at her office door again. "Ben, I said to go away!" she called, sitting up, but when the doorknob turned, the person who entered was definitely not Ben."Oh, excuse me! I'm terribly sorry." she apologized, straightening her skirt and getting up from her desk to greet the stranger. "I thought you were someone else." she explained.

Tintin had been told that Audrey Tabard was a crime reporter for the paper and that her office was on the third floor. He smiled when he saw her, despite his confusion on this 'Ben' she apparently wanted to leave her alone. "No trouble. I'm Tintin. You're Audrey Tabard, yes?" he asked with a smile, holding out his hand for her to shake. She took his hand and smile, giving it a firm shake.

"Pleased to meet you . You're correct, but please, just call me Audrey." she told him before looking down at the dog beside him, a look of realization crossing her eyes.

"This is Snowy." he told her, noticing her eyes wandering to him and kneeling down next to the dog to rub his head fondly. Snowy wagged his tail and gave a happy bark.

"Yes, yes. I recognize Snowy. I should've known better. You're Tintin the reporter. I'm a fan of your work." she told him, reaching down to pet Snowy gently. Audrey and Tintin both stood back up.

"Really? Well, thank you very much." he replied, almost shyly, sometimes he forgot how famous he actually was, even out of Brussels.

"So, is there I can help you with?" Audrey asked, leaning on her desk. Tintin noted her dark blonde hair and blue eyes that seemed to sparkle when she smiled. She was pretty.

"Ah, yes." he told her, shaking his head to stop himself from staring. "I read your article this morning." Tintin explained, pulling the folded up newspaper from his pocket. "I wanted to ask you a few questions for an investigation of my own if that's alright." he told her, taking a notepad and pencil from his other pocket. Audrey looked a bit startled. "Is something wrong?" he asked her, a look of concern on his face.

"No, no. Of course I'll answer your questions. It's just...my editor wanted me to continue an investigation on the subject myself. As you can tell from the article the story obviously didn't have a solid ending." Tintin's face fell.

"Well, of course. I understand. I wouldn't want to steal your story." he replied, beginning to put the notepad back in his pocket.

"Actually, wait." she told him, putting her hand in the air as if to freeze time. "Perhaps you'd like to collaborate? I understand if you'd prefer not to, but I'm willing to share a byline." Audrey smiled.

Tintin grinned. "Yes, I'd be happy to work with you."

"Alright, but we're going to have to get my editor to agree first." The young reporter added, heading for the door and opening it. She stuck her head out and spoke to someone in the hallway. "Could you get Mr. McCann to come in here for a minute?"


End file.
